Earth Day, celebrated on April 22nd every year, promotes environmental awareness to honor our planet Earth. This year’s theme is ‘Invest in Our Planet’ promoting a green economy that unites governments, businesses, and individuals. In the mission to conserve our planet, Earth Day seeks to involve as many people as possible.

This Earth Day, our employees around the world are working together to help plant trees in our local communities. Our team in Oregon is spending their Earth Day together planting native trees and shrubs in a local park in partnership with a non-profit organization to help promote soil biodiversity and help prevent erosion.

In Germany, our team partnered with a non-profit to plant 3,000 seedlings to help wild bees in the environment by providing a structurally diverse environment. Wild bees are an endangered species, that are vital to our planet. The planting of our trees transforms a monotonous, storm-damaged coniferous forest into a mixed forest, rich in species, and the perfect habitat for wild bees.

In Italy, we are raising awareness on various sustainability issues through cleanups, education sessions, and fun activities with our team members, such as our “Let it grow” seedling contest. Furthermore, our team will be planting maple trees with the association “Fustaja”, a local non-profit association with the aim of repopulation of green areas.

Although this holiday only comes around once a year, we aim to treat every day like it’s Earth Day through our sustainable business practices and Doing Good initiatives. Here are a few of the ways we give back to the planet:

Regenerative Agriculture

We believe that healthy soils are an important part of a healthy planet. Agricultural practices and the crops that are grown have a large impact on the overall health of the soil. To help support healthy, diverse soil where we source our ingredients, we partner with farmers in our supply chain to implement agricultural practices that aim to regenerate soil and contribute to a healthier planet.
Currently, we have six active projects around the globe that we’re funding in support of this initiative. They span from compost creation in Sri Lanka to crop diversity in Rwanda.

Sustainable Packaging

Over the past four years we’ve made a few significant changes to our packaging to reduce its overall impact. They’re subtle change that you may not have even noticed, but they have a big impact. Did you know, the string use to attach our tea tags to our teabags is made from organic cotton? In fact, we also recently switched to a thinner paper for those tags. The thinner paper means we use a lot less paper in the product that we make.
We’ve also made some significant improvement in the packaging we use to ship our products including using thinner cardboard for the shipping cases, and reconfiguring pallets to reduce the amount of shipping materials we need on each pallet.
Sweet Tangerine Positive Energy envelope cropin front of
Yogi Eugene Facility | Yogi Tea

LEED Certified Building

Five years ago our Eugene, Oregon manufacturing facility was under construction. In October of 2018 we officially moved into our new home, the world’s first LEED certified tea manufacturing plant. This certification means we incorporated a number of environmental considerations during the construction process. For example, our roof is white and made from a material designed to reflect the sun and keep our building’s temperature from fluctuating too dramatically, requiring extra energy.

Bike-to-Work Program

This Spring we launched a program to compensate our Eugene-based employees for biking to work rather than driving. Wellness is an important part of who we are. Programs like this provide an additional benefit to our employees for practicing a healthy lifestyle while reducing emissions from daily commutes.

 

How Can You Help?

You don’t need to be a large global organization to make a difference. There are steps each and every one of us can take to make our lives more sustainable. Here are some ways you can implement sustainable changes in your life: No matter if you’re an individual, or a corporation, we all have a responsibility to be stewards of the planet we call home. All changes big and small can make a huge difference, and taking even a single step toward living green will help make the world a better place.
  • Switch to a plant-based diet to reduce your footprint. If you need some inspiration on plant-based meals, check out the recipes in our blog. Trying to start your day on a positive note? We’re loving this Sweet Citrus Energy Oatmeal for the sunny days ahead. Or, are you looking for a delicious way to satisfy your caffeine fix? Try this refreshing and energizing Iced Mocha Tea Latte!
  • Reduce your plastic consumption. Small things, like avoiding unnecessary plastics in packaging, can make a big difference. Once you start, you will notice how many things are wrapped in plastic that could easily be replaced by other materials. It’s nothing new, but it’s effective and extremely important. To avoid unnecessary packaging, you can try to visit your local farmers market or simply bring your own bag to the store!
  • Choose sustainable fashion. The fast fashion industry has an extreme environmental impact that can be avoided by simply choosing brands that don’t produce in such high quantities or by thrifting.
  • Pay attention to labels when shopping. Look for organic and other sustainability-focused certifications on your products. Doing so ensures you’re supporting companies who are dedicated to sustainable production and ethical business practices. Do some research on the different certifications out there, and keep your eyes peeled next time you’re perusing the grocery aisle.
  • Organize a community cleanup! Grab your friends, some trash bags, and find an area of your community that could use some TLC. Not only will the area look much better, but the wildlife will thank you.

 

No matter if you’re an individual, or a corporation, we all have a responsibility to be stewards of the planet we call home. All changes big and small can make a huge difference, and taking even a single step toward living green will help make the world a better place.